The Nebraska Cornhuskers have released their offensive depth chart for this Friday’s game against Illinois. Head football coach Matt Rhule made it clear that the Huskers know who they are and what they want to do on the football field.
“We have an offensive identity. We’re going to run the ball. In all seriousness, I would not confuse identity, knowing what you want to do and who you are, with always having success. We lined up and we tried to run the ball against those guys… we know exactly who we are. We’re going to run the ball, we’re going to run a little bit of option, we’re going to play action pass here and there, we’re going to try and convert third downs. I think we’re just trying to do it better.”
He also spoke about Anthony Grant’s performance since taking over as the starting running back.
“We’ve been going with Anthony (Grant). Anthony just has to protect the football. When he fumbled in that game early on and a lot of people said he’s in the doghouse. No one’s in the doghouse. It’s just, we can’t play the way we want to play and put the ball on the ground. It happened again in the red zone. We’re working with him all the time. I love the guy, I walked off the field with him, like ‘hey, you’ll be back, let’s go.’
And gave praise to some of the backups, including recently converted wide receiver Josh Fleeks.
(Josh) Fleeks, I think, just showed us a dynamic element. I thought Emmett (Johnson) played well. Kwinten (Ives), we’re trying to bring Kwinten along. There’s just a big difference. He’s so talented. There’s a big difference going from seeing cards to being out there, and they can be in one of seven different defenses. Kwinten’s coming, but I think Josh is the one guy who kind of jumped. He can play receiver, he can play tailback. Anthony will keep working on ball security, Fleeks will keep bringing it along, and I think Emmett is a guy who can do it all.”
Find the entire offensive depth chart below.